The Jews were broken off from their own olive tree and elect Gentiles were grafted on the Jewish tree. Now the Gentiles must give utmost diligence to make their calling and election certain, otherwise they also will be removed from the tree, from the godly Vine, which is Christ.

The Gentile believers must come to understand it was not Jews but Satan in the religious system that murdered Christ.

The Jews must come to understand it was not true new-covenant saints, or the Spirit of Christ, that has persecuted them for two thousand years. It has been that same Satan who, working through Jewish rabbis, murdered Jesus, and who since that time has been working through Gentile leaders and their followers to torture and murder Jews as well as their fellow Gentile believers who disagree with some point of doctrine or practice.

Christ is being formed today in those of God's elect who are praying. These believers are feeling the love of Christ for the Jewish people and their land. They are ashamed of the behavior of Gentiles toward the Jews and are determined to do what they can to assist Jacob as he returns to the land of promise.

If it were merely human sentiment or romanticism that is inspiring the Gentile believers, the Jews would have little encouragement or hope from the believers. But because it is God's Christ who is beginning to express Himself toward the Jews, the Jews have a solid foundation on which to base their encouragement and hope.

The "times of the Gentiles" have nearly been fulfilled. The Jews are returning home. God Almighty, in fulfillment of His Word to the fathers of Israel, is turning to the House of Israel once again, and the saints who are living close to the Lord are feeling God's heart.

And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. (Luke 21:24)

The rabbis are suspicious of this new Gentile interest in Jews. They have good reason to be suspicious. Through the centuries the believers have treated Jews with scorn and hatred, and then with flattery have attempted to "convert" them to the "Gentile Church."

Some of the saints of God in whom Christ is being formed are not especially interested in converting Jews and would not benefit from their conversion. They are seeking only to follow Jesus each day; and it is their pursuit of Jesus that is leading them to desire to assist the Jews as they return home to the land of Israel.

Some of the Gentile saints (the writer among them) fear that the Jews will turn to Jesus and then be corrupted by church traditions, such as emphasizing residence in Heaven as the goal of redemption (in place of eternal life in the Kingdom of God), and viewing grace as an eternal amnesty rather than the Divine enablement to change from the image of Adam to the image of Christ.

To be continued.